


Dread

by navaan



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Community: comicdrabbles, Ficlet, Gen, Introspection, Iron Man 1, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-17
Updated: 2012-10-17
Packaged: 2017-11-16 16:17:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/541420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/navaan/pseuds/navaan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cold dread has been taking a hold of him from the moment it becomes clear that Tony's convoy has been attacked...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dread

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the [](http://comicdrabbles.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://comicdrabbles.livejournal.com/)**comicdrabbles** prompt #014 Cold

Cold dread has been taking a hold of him from the moment it becomes clear that Tony's convoy has been attacked and they've lost all contact. But just then he can't allow himself to give in to the emotion. This is war. He needs a clear head. He has to keep calm.

Tony will be all right.

Now – standing in front of the convoys scattered remains and facing the truth that there is no sign of any survivors – he feels a strange sense of detachment. Only hours ago he and Tony had been joking together, before Tony had slipped on his slick business man exterior to face the generals, walking through the Jericho presentation with a studied grace and still managing to seem bored and blasé about all of it. Rhodey had thought then that he needed to have a serious talk with him about his increasingly erratic lifestyle.

_Too late now, Rhodes. He's dead._

He's steeling himself for the moment when he'll have to identify the maimed remains of one of his best friends. Every time he closes his eyes he sees nightmarish visions of Tony – made worse by the fact that he _knows_ how bad it can be. He's lost soldiers before, lost friends – just not his non-combatant, irresponsible genius friend, Tony Stark.

“There is no body, Rhodes,” someone says behind him. “No sign of Stark. You know what this means, right? Man...”

Cold. Rhodey knows this isn't good. There's no body, so, yes, there's still hope – but who knew what is happening to Tony now. Nothing good. If Tony has been taken, someone must have recognized him...

He calls Pepper that evening, trying to reassure her. “I won't give up till I've found him, Pepper” he says, intending to keep his promise, knowing full well that this may cause problems when he receives new orders.

“What'll happen now? If they've taken him, what will happen?” Pepper tries to be calm and ask the right questions. She's Tony's assistant _because_ she can handle difficult situations. But Jim can hear her voice tremble slightly. _Tony, you idiot,_ he thinks. _Just be alive._

**

Three month pass without a word, without a hint of where Tony is hidden away or if he's even still alive and Jim can't shake the cold feeling. That nobody is gloating or asking for ransom is unusual – and not in a way that instills him with hope.

But then miracles _do_ happen sometimes and Tony has always been a lucky bastard. S.H.I.E.L.D. picks up something out of the ordinary, passes on the information and Rhodey is up in the sky only minutes later. The ragged form of a man walking alone doesn't give him hope until he sees him gesturing at them, not afraid of the helicopter at all.

“Next time you ride with me.” When Tony sags against him, he can hardly breathe. For the first time in weeks he feels the scorching heat of the sun.

Tony is alive.


End file.
